Equity market witnessed one of the steepest falls in the recent years on Friday, as the fears of coronavirus turning into a pandemic triggered all-round sell-off at the bourses. Hopes that the epidemic that started in China would be over in a few months and economic activity would return to normal have been shattered, as new infections reported around the world now surpass those in China.
As a result, the S&P BSE Sensex nosedived 1,448 points or 3.64 per cent to end the session at 38,297. All 30 constituents ended in the red. Tech Mahindra (down around 9 per cent) took the biggest knock on the index. Other major contributors to the index's decline were were Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank, and TCS. On the NSE, the 50-share index Nifty plunged 432 points or 3.7 per cent to end at 11,202. Volatility index India VIX zoomed 29 per cent to 22.87 levels.
On a weekly basis, Sensex slipped around 7 per cent while Nifty declined 7.2 per cent. This is the worst weekly fall for the indices in a decade.
All sectoral indices on the NSE ended deep in the red. Nifty IT index dropped over 5 per cent to 15,274 levels while Nifty Metal index cracked over 7 per cent to 2,233 levels. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index dropped over 3 per cent to 14,600 levels while S&P BSE SmallCap ended at 13,709, down 500 points or 3.52 per cent.
Analyst view
According to analysts, markets are increasingly getting worried about the rapid outbreak of coronavirus across geographies and the consequent economic fallout.
"The Coronavirus continues to drive market sentiment, with “risk off” triggered by the spread of the disease outside China and Asia. The obvious risk for Wall Street-correlated world stock markets is that the virus spreads more overtly into North America. Clearly the hope and indeed still the base case is that the virus, which appears to be an extreme form of viral flu, will burn itself when the weather changes as was indeed the case with Sars," said Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies.
READ MORE HERE Further, incessant selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) spooked retail investors, traders said. According to provisional data available with stock exchanges, so far this week, FPIs have offloaded stocks worth Rs 9,389 crore on a net basis.
"Technically, with the Nifty moving down further and in a free fall, traders will need to watch if the Nifty can now hold above the next major supports at 11090; else the current downtrend is likely to continue. Any pullback rallies could find resistances at 11382-11536," said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities in an emailed note.
Global Markets
World share markets were headed for their worst week since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis as investors ditched risky assets on fears the coronavirus would become a pandemic and trigger a global recession. Stock futures showed European indexes set to track the rout in their Asian counterparts on Friday, which comes after another massive selloff on Wall Street overnight.
MSCI's regional index excluding Japan shed 2.7 per cent. Japan's Nikkei slumped 4.3 per cent on rising fears the Olympics planned in July-August may be called off due to the coronavirus.
In commodities, US crude futures fell 3.2 per cent to $45.59 per barrel, having lost 14.5% so far on the week, which would be the deepest fall in nearly nine years.
(With inputs from Reuters & PTI)
 "Sensex tanks 1,448 pts on coronavirus jitters; worst weekly fall in 10 yrs")
